LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1923, 7 January 1919, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The deaths from inlluenza at Cairo number -10,000. Al Babiatua on New Year’s Fax; a constable in uniform was to be seen helping- to create harmony as a bandsman. On page 1 of this issue will lie found an account of the sports and other amusements held at the Beach during the New Near holidays. Heave snowstorms have occurred in the north of England and Scotland. Australian soldiers on leave are revelling in the unusual experience. The New Zealand No. 1 General Hospital at Brockenhursl is to he closed al the end of .January, Hornchurch at the end of February, the No. 3 Hospital at Codford in April, and No. 2 at Walton in May. J| is officially announced (hat a reduction of from 2d (o 30 per cent, in ocean freight rates from the United States to South America. Asia, .Japan, Australia, and Africa has been arranged.

A special meeting of the Foxton Borough Council will he held on Monday next, at 7.30 pan., for the purpose of fixing the statutory half-holiday for the year JOB), under the provisions of the Shops and (Pliers Act. 100 S. fhe ordinary monthly meeting will he held at the conclusion of the special meeting. Easiness, ordinary. Tin* Thames Star says it is not generally known that quite large schools of the genuine Cornish pilchard or sapline have been seen in the gulf, and ultimately a very profitable industry should he built up around this branch of the local fisheries. There is no reason why sardines should he brought all the wav from Norway or Italy when they could lie packed locally in large numbers. j The Dutch Press states th;it tiie I Kaiser and Kaiserin have regained I ilicit' licitllh, hut the Kaiser lives in the strictest seclusion, because it is rumoured that conspiralois have arrived at Amerongen and it re planning ids assassination. Consequently the Kaiser is strongly guarded. He apparently retains his incurable love of the limelight. He recently told an attending physician that, at first he meditated assembling, the loyal u-oops and making a last, great attack on the Allies, dying gloriously; but be could not reconcile his conscience to the sacrifice of further lives. He also thought of colhxding trusty troops and marching to Berlin to quell (lie incipient revolution, but feared be would unchain civil war. Writes the Ellham Argus, which, is edited by the Hon. W. C. C arncross, Speaker of the Legislative Council: —The indications last session were that, so far as the Liberals were concerned, there does no l ,, appear to lie much likelihood of a coalition between (he (wo main political parties, but that each will agroe to paddle its own canoe when (hadion time comes around: and Ihe election may lake place somewhat earlier than is generally expected. The probabilities are that a disruption will take place very early in the session. Mr Massey has certainly not a satisfactory working majority, and it at the cessation of the party truce, which will he as soon as the House meets, the Liberals and Labour vote solidly tfgainst Mr Massey, he will find it impossible to carry on. It is sate to presume that Labour will vote agamst Mr Massey and ally itself with rite. Liberals for the time being: not because they love Sir Joseph Ward, hut because they hate his party a little less than they hate the Reformers. If by combination with the Liberals, Labour unseated Mr Massey, it would be prepared to do the same thing to Sir Joseph “Ward immediately afterwards; so there is no hope of a permanent LiberalLabour alliance sis parties now stand. At present Labour disdains all alliances, and has the fixed goal in view of creating a Labour Government: but much water will run under the bridges, ere that end is achieved.

The Hev. and Mrs Bmliu ' arc .“pending a holiday in Taranaki. Most of the houses at the local seaside have been let up to Easter. Easter. Revised figures give the iotal Canadian casualties in the 220,182, of whom 00,883 arc dead. Among the recent season’s greetings, we have to acknowledge one from Pic. “Jack” Gillespie, from England. The road through the gorge is in good order for motoring, as is the track across the ranges to Pahiatna. A ear was drawn up on the roadside on the IJimatangi road last night for the purpose of. allowing two of the four male occupants to settle a difference by Hstieulls. The Petrograd Town Conned lias decided that all unmarried women from eighteen to forty-live shall be provided with husbands selected by the council. The children of these unions will be educated under the control of the Soviet Government. At last night's School Committee meeting, Air Woods suggested that the Committee should sell the old iron on the school site, as it was being stolen. The Chairman stated that the iron was (he properly of (lie Board, and they had called applications for purchase of same.

A local motorist pulled up his ear near the bridge at the Manawatu Gorge the other day to allow a mob of cattle to pass. The bullocks crowded near the car, and one got astride of the engine. It released itself without doing any damage to the car.

The Borough Band played the old year out and the new year in. In the earlier part of New Year’s Eye it enlivened proceedings in Main Street. Later in the night the bandsmen were entertained by Messrs Christie, Geo. Coley, Lon. freeman, .Beveridge and Gardes. Tho bandsmen also desire to thank Air Kellow for an invitation which, owing to the lateness of the houi. could not ho availed of. it was remarked by a speaker at a recent meeting of business men in Melbourne Dial Dr. Siegfried, of the ’Drench Alission, had been much amused when ho was told that officials who before the war had been getting £3OO a year had been given charge of new boards or departments at Horn £I,OOO to £1,500 a vear. In France the position had been reversed. A man who before (he \yn ! had earned £3,000 a year, had been put into uniform and giver control of a department at £2OO.

The Mayor of Alartuii lias written to I lie Wanganui Chronicle j which paper published a letter calling on him to resign), demanding a withdrawal and an apology, within three days, otherwise a writ for libel would he issued. The councillors who signed the letter have also received a .communication from the Mayor, asking for a withdrawal and an apology within three days. Failing this, the Alayor requests I lie name of each councillors solicitor, in order that he may serve a writ fur libel on each individually.

The speed at which lish can swim is summarised by the Seieulilie Amerieati from recent studies as lidlows: —“A. Belgian authority, (1. Denil, while studying' lish ways, concluded that salmon could swim at n ..peed of 3.15 metres a second for at least 14 moires. A Canadian, G. P. Napier, from investigations in (he Frazier River, expressed the opinion that-the limiting velocity of a steady stream up which a sockeye salmon could swim a very short distance was between six and seven miles an hour. Finally, H. von Bayer, of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, declared that the velocity of the current in fishways should not exceed 10ft. a second. These various figures, arrived at independently, are substantially in agreement.

Mr Thomas Aliller, an old resident of Wellington, died on Saturday at (lie age of: 84. Air Aliller came to New Zealand in 1875 to undertake carving work at Government Buildings, then in course of erection. Afterwards he commenced business as a monumental mason, and executed some tine specimens of sculptural work. The late Air Aliller has left a family of three sons —Air Robert Aliller, of Belfast, Canterbury; Mr John P. Miller, of Auckland; and Air Thomas Miller, of AVellington: and four da lighters —Mrs W. Bock, and Misses Jessie and Winifred Miller, of Wellington, and Aliss Eva Aliller, of New York.

Tho unique hut trying experience of being locked in a freezing chamber all night fell to the lot of Mr Andrew Blake, a freezing chamber hand employed in the Gisborne Freezing AVorks, one of the local papers report. The men were engaged a few days ago in loading operations in connection with the Port Sydney, and about (5.30 p.m. the chamber door was closed, Air Blake by some oversight being lucked in the freezing chamber. Nothing whatever was known of the mat - ter until about 3.30 a.m., when the chamber was again opened to continue work, and the unfortunate man was found in a state of collapse. He was assisted home in a weak state, the ordeal of being nine hours enclosed in a freezing chamber having reduced him to a low state of vitality. Once the door of the chamber is closed no sound whatever therein can reach anyone outside. The unfortunate man hammered the door in tho hope of someone outside hearing the noise, and also to try to keep himself warm. Finding himself becoming weak, he was obliged to keep hitting himself to maintain the blood circulation.

A Wellington message stales that last year the police eases there totalled 4,793, a decrease of 1,184 compared with the previous year. A magnificent view is obtained of the Manawatu district, Palmerston and adjoining towns, from the heights, of the Pahiatuu track. Many motorists use this'track in preference to the Manawatu, Gorp; route to the Wairarapa. ™ During December 9.33 inches of rain fell on 13 days at Inglewood. The total rainfall for 19,18 was 107.44 inches, on 109 days. The heaviest lall vas on Apul bill, 4.D inches. During the previous three years Ihe total was:—lols, 07.3(i inches; 1 DIG. 00.(5 inches; 1017, 84.1 inches. The announcement is made in an American exchange that (he Shipping Board intends to largely abandon (he building of wooden vessel . The exchange slates that there seems no doubt that the wood shi}; is doomed as a factor in (he upbuilding of a merchant marine by the American Government, The London Daily Express stales that (he international diilieulties in connection,with the trial of the ex, Kaiser have been overcome. Men uhave been found by which he can he called to answer definite charges preferred by the Allies in conformity with international law. A poll is to he taken by the Auckland City Council this month on a proposal to raise a loan of £l6s,*M*' for street works, it is proposed that the loan shall he repayable tu thirty-three years, and that as :• county for its repayment a spend rale of twopence in the £ shall re struck. Cue of the oldest telegraph barmen in flic .Dominion, Mr Richard Jackson, died at Masterton on Sunday, at the age of (55 years. Deceased, who was horn in (lie Poorous Sounds, was a son of Captain Jackson. He worked on the ms'a!lalion of (he telegraph line over oOlira Gorge, and subsequently installed the telephone system in ilasterlon. The private apart melds of tin a Kaiser and ex-Kaiseriu were lo during the recent disturbance, hundred persons invaded the Imp'rial rooms, stealing hundreds of articles of value, emptying wardroinhreaking the Kaiser’s private oi-.-i. and annexing the contents. One of the thieves dressed himself in one of the Kaiser's uniforms, and h-fi-ll is own dirty clothes on the Hear, During the voyage ut the steamer Riuiie from Liverpool to -Im bourne and Sydney many “depth charges were dropped overboard m (lie submarine danger zone, when the look-out reported ripple- m foam (racks which might- iim-■:<!<■ the presence of an enemy sidm.e ine. Describing the burst im;. -u these depth charges, a seaman ■ -It* (he explosion beneath (lie wave caused a tremendous dislurham-e "U (lie surface of the water over an extensive area. One charge composed of powerful explosives Jr >.-- ped by a convoying sloop she ->■ Runic from stem to stern, at -• '"Ci llie charge exploded about two mites, away. The convoy to which the Iran--port taking the 41st Reinforcem; nt-, to England was attached v:attacked three times by submenuwhen a day’s steam from it.- de.-u----natiun. The first warning came ahout 10.30 a.m., when the sign d indicating that a submarine not 'l'-en sighted was hoisted. Destroyers came into action immediately, and gunfire and depth charges prevented the enemy doing any damage. One torpedo-boat destroyer steamed at right angles across the wake of the convoy, and omitted great volumes of dense black smoke, which, settling on the watery formed an effective screen. Another attack was made soon after midday, and this time it destroyer signalled that Hie had sunk a submarine —a fact which created the greatest enthusiasm. Later in the afternoon a third attack was beaten off successfully. Spagnum moss for surgical dressings is gathered on Dartmoor and in Ulster, but specially in Scotland. In the early days of the war Lieut.Col. C. W. Catliearl established a committee in Edinburgh to provide the moss for such military hospitals as cared to have.it, and owing to the increased demand, a joint committee, representing the Department of (he Director-General of Voluntary Organisations and the Scottish Branch of the Red Cross Society, was formed to organise the gathering and mechanical cleaning of moss on a large* scale. Scotland was divided into four large gathering areas, with centres for storing, making up, and distributing the finished dressings. Near Stirling the workers are housed and fed in travelling caravans. Jn Perthshire the Duke of Alholl has lent .several of his shooting lodges for the accommodation of voluntary gatherers, ’ and in Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Ross-shire, Inverness-shire and the. Orkney and Shetland Islands enormous quantities of moss have been A gathered—even on the Sahhath-JM parish ministers exhorting flocks to worship on the moors spend the remainder of the day moss-gathering. BECAUSE' There is an epidemic .of influenza, [ there is no reason why you should - , he attacked. Keep a bottle of ( L Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy han- • dy, and take an occasional dose. If you do this you will ward tiff influ- • euza, for Chamberlain’s Gough Re- • aiedy has such a tonic effect on tho i respiratory organs that it strengths eus them to resist the influenza . For sale everywhere.—Advt (

The Canton Times is certainly frank. A recent issue reported that Homing district was attacked by in-> fluenza. the last few days. Many patients have died of this disease because most of the doctors there did not understand its nature and treatment. •The nominations received for the Foxton Racing Club’s annual rare meeting to be held on the 22nd instant, and which appear elsewhere in tliis issue, are much better than those of last year. This year there is an increase over last year’s figures in every race. The total this year is 171, as against 108 last year. A correspondent to the Manawalu Daily Tinas calls the editor of that papei’ to book for laid spelling, and adds: “Yon are a good writer, but a mighty bad speller.” In a footnote, (hanking the writer for his courteous admonition, the editor of the Times says: “The writer is wrong; wo arc a bad writer and a good speller, but when the liuotypist gels guessing the next best lias to suffice.” The Albert Medal has been awarded to (lie late Arthur Ambury, of New Plymouth, for attempting to save a mountaineer on Mount Egmoiil: while the latter was falling off an iee-slope at a terrific pace, Mr Ambury tried to arrest bis descent at the loss of bis own life. The accident occurred on 3rd June last, af what is known as Humphries’ Castle. Mr Ambury, a married mam with four children, Mr "William L. Gourlay, of the Lands Department, New Plymouth, aged 20 (son of Mr E. Gourlay, a linotype operator on the Christchurch Press), and Mr M’Domtld, were mountaineering. Messrs Ambury and Gourlay lost their fives by falling over a cliff, and Mr M’Donald was injured.